But together they currently contribute about two-thirds of the water that's raising sea levels, Meier said.

He and his colleagues surveyed studies of how these glaciers responded to warming over the past decade. They then estimated how much these glaciers might contribute to sea level rise by the end of the 21st century if these trends continue.

"We predict up to 24 centimeters [9.5 inches] of rise from small glaciers" by 2100, Meier said.

Factoring in the additional, gradual thaw of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, Meier and colleagues estimated that sea levels could rise as much as 22 inches (56 centimeters) by 2100 due to ice melt alone.

As the oceans warm, the water also expands, raising sea levels further, Meier added.

Since ice-loss from most glaciers is accelerating, the glaciers could contribute twice as much to sea-level rise in the second half of this century as they did in the first half, he added.

The new study appears tomorrow in the journal Science.

Predictions

The researchers are "right on the mark with their discussion of tidewater glacier instability," said Richard Williams, a glacier expert with the United States Geological Survey.

"This is an important change in emphasis and in the way we traditionally understood changes in glaciers," he said.

Other researchers agree that it is important to look at these glaciers and how they respond to climate change, but they're skeptical about the estimates in the new study.

"The fact that most glacier systems on Earth are losing mass at an accelerating rate is of great interest," said Andrew Shepherd of the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.

But in the new study, "the sea level projections are rudimentary at best," he added.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the recent accelerating trend will continue for a hundred years, so [it is] speculative," Shepherd said.

Kevin Trenberth, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, says he's skeptical about the new study's predictions, in part because some glaciers will disappear completely over the coming century.

"They don't take that into account properly," Trenberth said. "But yes, I think sea levels will rise more than IPCC suggests."